Column: Video triggers a memory of sorts

You know how scent can trigger memory? A whiff of someone's perfume can take you back in time? Something cooking will put you back in your mother's or grandmother's kitchen?

I've had that happen plenty. In fact, I keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse that reminds me of my trip to Spain and Portugal. (We used it. A lot. So it's imprinted in my brain as tied to that trip.)

But have you ever had it go the other way?

I was looking at photos with my daughter from my recent trip to Croatia. After scrolling through hundreds of images, she was done looking for cute Croatian guys, and I was going to shut down the computer. But I noticed the folder labeled "Croatia videos," and I thought I'd check them out. I don't know why. Just to see them, I guess. I hadn't looked at them and didn't really remember what I'd recorded.

I opened and played a couple, and then opened one of the sea, taken from the port city of Zadar. I took it from the shore, under a tree-lined area where we found the only sand beach in the whole country. No, seriously, they have concrete beaches. And they advertise them. Everything else is just rock. Big rocks. Uncomfortable rocks, if you're looking for a beach.

But in this spot, several of our group found about 6 feet of coarse sand that led into rock-strewn water. They had picked their way carefully over the rocks until the water was just deep enough to swim into.

I don't know why I videotaped this spot. There was a couple further down the shore, the sun was shining on the water and I recorded maybe a minute of sand, water and sun beneath the trees. It's nothing spectacular or even worth keeping for future viewing.

But as soon as I opened it, I was hit by the smell of the sea.

"Whoa," I said aloud. "That's weird."

My husband asked what, and I explained.

"Yeah, that's weird," he agreed. I think he thought I was losing my mind.

But the scent persisted as I watched the video. The others I took during our sail on the Adriatic didn't elicit the same response. Just this one of the beach.

The strange part is, I wasn't aware of the smell at the time. My frequent travel friend, Tracy, can smell sea air a couple of miles away. But not me. I tend to notice it after it's gone. The salt tang isn't there on the breeze anymore. And then even my memory of the sea air fades.

So it was a complete surprise to have it so strong in my senses because of a visual cue.

Or maybe I am just losing my mind.

Mystique Macomber is features editor for News-Herald Media and Daily Tribune Media. Her column will appear occasionally in Central Wisconsin Sunday Lifestyle.